Ag robots on the rise

When you want to talk about robots, you talk with Frank Tobe, the author of the Robot Report.

In his monthly report, Tobe makes it his business (and yours) to delve into the business of the growing robotic field in every way possible — from profiling the robotic firms, themselves, to worldwide developments as they bust onto the scene.

Tobe reports that as agriculture transitions to precision planting methods, robots fit well into the picture. Some highlights:
–unmanned aerial vehicles are being used to map, observe, sense and spray.
–unmanned (or at least autonomous) ground vehicles are helping provide more of that precision.
–90 percent of crop spraying in Japan is done using small unmanned helicopters.

Modern farmers and ranchers are already high-tech, said Tobe, citing software systems and aerial survey maps already in use. In his latest report, Tobe profiles 27 of the many companies attempting to provide robotic solutions to farming problems. We’ll go over just a few.

Agribotix, Boulder, Colo.
Product: Drone services for precision agriculture. The company began selling services this year.

EcoRobotix, Essert-Pittet, Switzerland.
Product: Lightweight autonomous robot used for weeding. Machines will sell for $18,750 each and will be available in 2015.

Kinze Manufacturing, Williamsburg, Iowa and Jaybridge Robotics, Cambridge, Mass.
Product: Autonomous vehicle system for row crop harvesting
Kinze is currently not selling the harvesting system but is working towards full commercialization soon.

Author: Steve Tarter

Born in England, raised in Boston, I'm a Midwestern transplant who's called Peoria home for the past 40 years. Married with four grown children, I enjoy journalism, film noir and radio drama. As the song goes, I like coffee; I like tea. Former president of the Apollo Theater in Downtown Peoria, I'm looking for a new raison d'etre.
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